Mr. John O'Sullivan:

I thank the Deputy for his comments, and particularly his opening remarks about our meeting. I understand the point that he is making. It is a very important point. Everybody in the Valuation Office is very aware of how difficult the current environment is out there for business survival and for trading. However, as the Deputy said, the functions of the Valuation Office are limited by the legislation under which we operate. Our primary remit is to conduct the revaluation in accordance with the Act. The outcome of the revaluation and measures to address or ameliorate its impact are issues of policy, as the Deputy acknowledges, which go beyond the remit of the Valuation Office. We have no remit whatsoever in the legislation in respect of any of those issues. Our job is to estimate the net annual value, which in real terms means the rental value. The proposition is to figure out what the rent for a particular property would command on the statutory date if it was vacant, on the basis that the tenant would pay the rates, look after the repairs and look after the insurance.

I am very interested in the comments made to the Deputy by the local authority officials, because I like to know about particular difficulties to see if we can address them. As the process currently stands, there is a consultation period before the Commissioner of Valuation ever signs a valuation order. There are two parties to be consulted as required by the legislation. The first party is the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, presumably on the basis of having a policy input into whether the order should go ahead. The second party is the local authority in question. There is a consultation process that takes place at the very beginning.

We would have had several meetings, as far as I am aware, with senior officials in the local authority. We would also have interacted with them while we were on the ground, but to a limited extent - I acknowledge what the Deputy says - because we do not see that they have an actual input into setting the valuation levels. I do not think that is what the Deputy is suggesting. If there are local factors at play we are looking at and analysing rental values. There has always been a separation of process and function in respect of the rating system in Ireland. The valuation is intended to be an objective exercise conducted independently by a statutory office acting on foot of the evidence that is proceeding from ratepayers or from any of the other sources.